WRITTEN QUESTION E-0936/00 by James Nicholson (PPE-DE) to the Council. Jubilee 2000 Coalition.
Date: 2000-03-30
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU initiative, cooperation policy, debt reduction, developing countries, external debt, indebtedness, poverty, redemption

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/11

Th(cid:252)ringer Umlaufmittelprogramm (1993-1996) and the Th(cid:252)ringer KMU-Investitionssicherungsprogramm
(before 1997). Proceedings pursuant to Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty have also been initiated in several
cases where individual aid was granted to industrial companies. Since investigations are ongoing in all of
these cases, it is difficult to say exactly when they will be closed.

6.
As regards the Structural Funds, the Thuringia operational programme for the period 2000-2006 has
not yet been approved by the Commission, but will be in the near future. The programme itself will be
required to define its implementation methods in order to fulfil the obligations established by new
Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural
Funds (1). It is therefore not possible at present to determine the extent to which changes will have to be
made to existing procedures.

Finally, the issue of whether Thuringia must alter the procedures normally used for the transposition of
Community Directives is an entirely internal matter. In fact, the Community may not become involved in
the division of responsibilities between a Member State and its federal regions. Moreover, the Commission
does not have the means to examine the conditions under which Directives are transposed in any given
region of a Member State.

(1) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999.

(2001/C 81 E/012)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0936/00

by James Nicholson (PPE-DE) to the Council

(30 March 2000)

Subject: Jubilee 2000 Coalition

The Jubilee 2000 Coalition is campaigning for debt cancellation for the world(cid:146)s poorest countries.
The Cologne Initiative of G7 countries provides for cancellation for around 33 countries but offers
nothing to many other countries, identified by the Coalition as being in urgent need of assistance.

Does the Council support the objectives of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition? What action has the Council taken
to reduce demands for debt repayment by the world(cid:146)s poorest countries?

Reply

(29 September 2000)

The EU and the Member States are fully aware of the difficulties many poor countries face because of their
excessive debt, which affects their development prospects and undermines their political stability and
progress towards democracy.

In order to alleviate the debt burden, the EU and the Member States have actively taken or participated in
initiatives at various levels, in conformity with their competencies.

On 6 July 1998, the Council decided to participate fully in the HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Countries)
initiative launched by the IMF and the World Bank. This initiative was based on a commitment by the
international financial community to reduce countries(cid:146) debt burden to a sustainable level provided that the
country completes a period of strong economic policy performance.

At the G7 Cologne summit in June 1999, Ministers agreed to an (cid:145)expanded HIPC initiative that will
provide faster, deeper and broader debt relief(cid:146).

The European Council of Cologne in 1999 highlighted the importance (cid:145)of finding a lasting solution to the
debt problems of the poorest countries. The European Council welcomes the common European position

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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13.3.2001

on improving the debt initiative for heavily indebted poor countries and supports a faster debt reduction
process for the poorest countries and ambitious aims as regards the extent of debt remission. It emphasises
the debt relief should be more closely linked with a strategy for poverty alleviation. The Member States are
prepared to support an increase in the remission percentage on commercial loans to 90 % or more at the
Paris Club and will seek to promote further reductions for debt from official development aid. Within this
framework, with appropriate burden-sharing, Europe is ready to bear its fair share of the cost of an
improved debt initiative.(cid:146)

At the annual World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington in September 1999, the donor community took
an ambitious set of political decisions closely linking poverty alleviation strategies, structural adjustment
programmes and the debt reduction initiative. Following these decisions the EU-ACP Joint Council decided
in December 1999 that unallocated programmable resources from the EDF might be used in the form of
grants for meeting the outstanding debt and debt servicing obligations to the Community of the first ACP
countries which qualify under the HIPC initiative (€ 320 million), and for contributing to the overall
financing of the HIPC initiative by providing up to € 680 million for the HIPC Trust Fund managed by the
World Bank. A contribution of € 54 million to the HIPC Trust Fund for the non-ACP HIPCs was also
agreed on at the meeting of the General Affairs Council on 6 December 1999. This amount is in addition
to the contribution of € 1 billion from the EDF for all highly indebted poor countries, which was agreed
on at the same meeting.

In the framework of the Africa-Europe Summit in Cairo on 3 and 4 April 2000, a number of Member
States announced their willingness to write off most if not all debts of HIPC countries.

Additionally, at this Summit, parties:

(cid:129) considered (cid:145)that the existing measures and mechanisms aiming at the alleviation of the African debt
overhang shall be appropriately evaluated as far as their modalities and implementation are concerned
taking into account their impact on all African needs, especially those of middle income countries
with regard to their debt servicing capacity and eventually find equitable solutions.(cid:146)

(cid:129) acknowledged (cid:145)that the success of any debt relief initiatives depends on the implementation of the
necessary economic reform measures, and in this regard encouraged the African countries to continue
to implement such reforms, to institute good governance and to commit themselves to ring-fencing
savings from debt relief for poverty alleviation, including the improvement of the social sectors and
the rehabilitation of infrastructures.(cid:146)

(cid:129) noted (cid:145)the African position on the issue of external debt, which seeks debt relief and cancellation for
all indebted African countries in order to create an enabling environment for sustainable develop-
ment.(cid:146)

(cid:129) agreed (cid:145)to support African countries in channelling the amounts of resources from debt relief to

poverty eradication strategies and programmes, including in social and infrastructural sectors.(cid:146)

(cid:129) reaffirmed the commitment to achieve the globally agreed target of poverty reduction by half by the

year 2015.

To this end, the bi-regional group at Senior Officials(cid:146) level will take the necessary measures to prepare a
report on the external debt of African countries, which will be studied within a reasonable timeframe at
Ministerial level in the framework of the follow-up mechanism.